Be at City Hall next Monday night

This is important.

If you are a cyclist and you want Spokane to be a better bike town then clear off next Monday night and do some civic duty'ing.

On Monday, the City Council is going to vote on whether to update the Comprehensive Plan with the Master Bike Plan. There's so much I can go on about here. I've been blogging on the MBP for the last 2 years, so you can read the posts here for more historical perspective. Here's the genesis post.

The basic point of getting this Master Bike Plan passed is so Spokane can get some funding for our bike stuff. Without a plan, we will not get serious state or federal money. This giant basic irrefutable fact was the reason the Bicycle Advisory Board has made updating the MBP our number one goal since the BAB was refreshed about 3 years ago. Without the plan, we can't go for the real money. Like SmartRoutes for example.

Although the plan has been developed transparently for the last two years and there has been enthusiastic support for it, passing the plan through City Council is by no means a slam dunk. The usual foot-dragging, FUD-inducing, and obfuscating tactics of the usual crowd will be loud and organized. "This is yet another unfunded mandate" will be their mantra, though the Plan does not specify or require funding sources from the city.

So, this is where you, the cyclist comes in: Just show up on Monday. It's next Monday (May 18) at 6pm at the City Hall council chambers (in the basement). Hopefully you will witness something historic as the Plan passes. You don't have to speak, but if you want to, get there a bit early to sign up.

If you come and you're not going to speak: look like a cyclist. Just have a helmet with you. Or a loud vest. Or some Lycra. Or a messenger bag.

In the meantime:
-- Read the plan.
-- Call your city council representatives and make sure they're going to vote this through.

Spokane Bike Nerd Convention - Nov 18th

Bike to Work, 1992
Photo courtesy of Eileen Hyatt

Mark your calendar: Tuesday night, November 18th.

Third Tuesday is normally the Bicycle Advisory Board meeting night. But this month is special, instead of our riveting monthly meeting, the city is hosting the last Master Bike Plan Open House.

We did three open houses last spring to show the draft maps for the Master Bike Plan. The maps are ready to roll and need one final public viewing to be bona fide. In addition, there is some policy in the Master Bike Plan Supplemental Draft that is also included for review.

Once these pieces are reviewed and the public has had a chance to provide final input, they will go through the final bit of editing and word-smithing, then they will go to the council. The council will vote to include these bits as updates to our comp plan.

There's more to the Master Bike Plan than just some maps and a bit of policy, but this is the actionable stuff as far as engineering is concerned, so it's being front-loaded so we can get moving on finding money and also have official routes. Official routes are required for opportunistic fixes as streets are otherwise repaired and repaved.

I call this event a bike nerd convention because that's what they are. And for that they rule. We should go have beers afterwards or something.

Anyway, here's the rest of the info:

• What: Master Bike Plan Open House


• Where: Salem Lutheran Church, 1428 W. Broadway


• When: Tuesday, November 18 from 6-8pm


• Who: Anybody interested in the Master Bike Plan


• Official city web site: here

Public Meeting Tomorrow (Weds, Oct 8)

The City will be having a public meeting tomorrow at the South Hill Library to present and receive feedback on the planned construction for 37th Ave from Perry to Ray.

Part of these plans include putting in bike facilities per the comprehensive plan. Specifically: this section (as is all of 37th) is designated as a bike lane. Putting these lanes in will require on-street parking to be removed.

Removing parking is traditionally met with resistance by some property owners. Most property owners understand how the addition of bike lanes improves the quality of life for those that live on the street, and thereby increases the value of the property.

If you are a cyclists that likes bike lanes and thinks the city should bake bike facilities into these types of projects, then your voice is an important one, especially if you live or ride in the area.

The meeting is from 4-6pm at the South Hill Library. More info here. Please attend if you can.

Lofty Goals

This is Cedar St at about 12th ave. These pictures are very good at illustrating why we need a culture shift in the engineering/public works department.

You can see in these pictures that the street is being repaved. For the majority of this repaving project, the bike lane is not being repaved. It is distinctly left out of most of the work here.

Anyone who bombs down Cedar/Maple on a regular basis knows how bad this stretch is. Going north from about 14th to 8th you are at speed (it's down hill). As you can see from the picture above, the bike lane is made up of many layers of asphalt, some finished/feathered better than other layers. In the rain or in the dark/dusk hitting these these variances at 30 mph or so can take you down if you are hitting them incorrectly.

The good news is that they covered that huge dip created by the man hole cover in this stretch. But the bad news is that they didn't extend the nice new pavement to cover all of the variable levels in the bike lanes throughout this section.


These are the kind of decisions that are made "on the ground" or by the engineering department without oversight. This is hard stuff to codify and is a good example of why we really need to have a different way of thinking in these departments.

Engineers that actually cycled for utility would see this kind of stuff immediately. An enlightened public works department would encourage such engineers to bring this kind of issue up and evaluate the cost/benefit to resurfacing the lanes.

We (BAB) are making progress in getting in on more of the decision making at the project level for street work, but stuff like this, where it's really up to the discretion of the project manager and engineers on the ground to make a call, requires a shift in institutional thinking: away from the "move as many cars as fast as possible" approach to "engineering." It requires real leadership at the highest levels of the engineering and public works to value all modes of transportation.

Another Nudge Forward

Yep. That's the city council. That's what 2 seconds after a yes vote looks like. The council voted to fund a bike/ped coordinator position. This is not a permanent, benefited position. I think it's about $30k/year for the next 3 years towards the position. It's the first step towards a permanent position.

This is a pretty historic occasion to me. It's weird how this kind of stuff comes to pass. The BAB has continually been pestering the city about this position for the last couple years I've been there, and I'm pretty sure former BABs have done the same.

Some credit is due to gas prices and a slight shift in thinking by some of the old timers on the council. Verner's administration also helped. But the bulk of the pushing and the paper shuffling and the negotiating and work here is Richard Rush. Thank you sir.

The weird part to me is that in the end it's just a quick vote on a quiet Monday night in the summer in a nearly empty city council chambers. Without getting too sappy: in that moment, Spokane has joined a host of other progressive cities in recognizing that good bicylce and pedestrian infrastructure requires dedicated and knowledgeable planning and resources.


Here's Maddie and Liza. About 45 minutes after the vote. I wonder how the city will look when Maddie's kid learns how to ride a bike?

Downtown Transportation Plan

DKS is a consultant company that is assisting the city on coming up with transportation plan for downtown. There's a bunch of cycling stuff in there.

If the plan shakes out into something good, the plan is to bake it into the Master Bike Plan. So far the DKS plan is pretty good. There are a couple things that need to change, and it's not exactly how I would do things, but in the interest of progress and moving forward with concrete project-level stuff to raise money for: the plan is good.

You can see the plan here: http://www.spokaneengineering.org/Downtown%20Study/Downtown%20Study.htm

You can send feedback here: DKSTransportationStudy@spokanecity.org

My feedback is here: http://phred.org/pipermail/bab/2008-August/000865.html

This is dry stuff, but if you ride downtown or want to, this plan (well, Chapter 4 and the Bicycle Summary Sheets specifically) is worth a read. People doing this stuff actually do read and act on feedback.

Oh yeah. And of course the dead line is this Friday. My bad. I should've posted this about a month ago.

Your Part

This week and into next week, you can provide input on the Master Bike Plan for Spokane. I've written about why this is important many times, so I'll spare you the sermon.

The bottom line is that without citizen input and feedback throughout the process, then the plan is doomed from the start. We must have active input if we want to build a better bike town. The main piece of the plan right now is looking at a draft of some maps and ideas. It's fun stuff to look at and exciting to think about the potentials.

The format for this input is open houses. That means you can show up during the window of time, look at maps, ask questions, get clarification, and provide input. This is not about sitting through some long boring presentation.

There are 3 open houses:

• Tuesday, April 22, Southside Senior Activity Center, 3151 E. 27th Ave., from 6 to 8 p.m.
• Thursday, April 24, at the West Central Community Center, 1603 N. Belt, from 7 to 9 p.m.
• Tuesday, April 29, at the Northeast Community Center, 4001 N. Cook, from 6 to 8 p.m.

The astute reader will notice that the locations correspond with council districts. I'll be at each one. This is a great exercise for me in practicing humility and respect for people that don't agree with my view of the world. Stop by and say hi .

If you absolutely cannot make these meetings then you can fill out a survey. Actually, you should fill out a survey in any case.

And if you really want to make an impact, contact your council representatives. Just calling/emailing your council people and telling them that bike and pedestrian amenities are important to you will make a huge difference. At the end of the day, the council must adopt what we're building here. The council people generally like to be re-elected, so they are going to vote for stuff that's important to the people in their districts.

Don't know your district or who your council people are? Go here and look it up.

Make it Stop

I woke up at 6:30 this morning to suit up and follow a commuter. I threw a fit when I looked out the window and saw snow. On the ground. And still falling. It'll be gone by noon, but it's a bummer to still see snow as April nears.

I followed Kevin today. I met him through FBC. He's a recent transplant from UK and he's just a really cool guy. His route stays on the sensible roads, where he has the right of way and there's a lane to pass him.

The commute map is here (if you're running Mac, you must run Firefox to view the map) -- open it up and zoom in. If you're a cyclist in Spokane, you'll likely find it pretty interesting.

Looking for a Good Time?

Here's some help with your social calendar for the week:

Tonight
Bob Curnow Jazz Orchestra, with the genius jazz pianist and world-famous composer, Don Goodwin at Ichibon Sushi Lounge, 202 West Third Avenue. 8pm?

Tomorrow night
Bicycle Advisory Board meeting. 6pm. City Hall, Council Briefing Room, basement. http://www.bikespokane.net/

Wednesday night
Fish Lake Trail Public Meeting Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 6:30pm; Woodland Center - John A Finch Arboretum; 3404 W Woodland Blvd in Spokane

Friday night
FBC ride. 8pm at Pear Tree. More here.

Are you commuting yet?

It's time. Today's weather has verified that it is now time to commute to work.

Since I work from home, I have to latch on to other people who get to commute daily.

If you commute by bike, no matter how short or far or slow or fast, please contact me so I can get your route. The 'why' and contact info is here.

City of Spokane is what we're looking for here. If you commute outside the city, I still may want to come and get your route.

An Important Route

View Larger Map

In this month's issue of Out There Monthly, I wrote a column about the Iron Bridge. The bridge is a hugely important connection to hook up East Central to downtown for bike/ped traffic. In the map above, I've traced out a route that I think is probably one of the most important bike routes the city could attempt as we build the Master Bike Plan.

The neighborhoods of East Central and Chief Gary can be difficult neighborhoods to traverse by bike. The river, active rail lines, Trent, Sprague, and Mission avenues are just a few of the giant obstacles that make this part of town difficult to get through by bike. Putting in the Iron Bridge is a huge first step to transforming this area, but it's not the only thing that needs to get done. The city needs to capitalize on all of the core pieces of infrastructure that it already owns, and hook them together with the route above.

Moving counter clockwise from the Iron Bridge, go south on Helena. This stretch of road is huge and pretty light traffic. It would be easy to fit bike lanes here and preserve parking and still have room for car traffic. There's a light at Trent, so crossing there is pretty straight forward.


Then east on Riverside: shared/signed roadway to Altamont, where you go north a block to the Playfair site. The Playfair site is so cool. Last I heard, the city is thinking of a prison here. That is so awful and is the last thing that this already-struggling neighborhood needs. Anyway, the city owns this. There should be a big fat multi-use trail through here to the east end where the route would cross Fiske over the tracks.


The Fiske street foot bridge is another hidden gem: a safe/existing way over the huge gash that is the otherwise uncrossable live railroad. This is a hugely valuable piece of bike/ped infrastructure that is already used by commuters today.

Now, the piece from the Fiske bridge to Riverton/SCC is still murky to me. I've ridden around out here and I need to ride the piece that I show here. Crossing Trent here is no picnic and would cost some money to do right, but there are no other lights for at least 1/4 mile in each direction, so there would not be any issue with back ups if you put a ped/bike-friendly signal here.

Once you get to SCC, you can follow the trail that parallels Riverton Ave (amazingly, once again: a critical and valuable piece of infrastructure owned by the city; this is a river front trail we're talking about here -- the city has an easement). Follow the trail back to the city core, where you hit Mission and another live railroad trestle before you connect back with the Iron Bridge.

Aside from the Iron Bridge, going under the Mission street bridge and the other live trestle, are surely the most expensive infrastructure pieces in this route. But doing so makes a clean shot to SCC: from downtown to SCC all on multi-use (no traffic) trails.

This route would open up the East Central, Chief Gary, and Logan neighborhoods to bike and ped through traffic. I think this route would also improve the property values and private investment along the route. Today, traversing east/west through the core of our city by bike is not something new cyclists are likely to try.

Short Friday Ride

Bradley and I took a ride around town today. Bradley is another BABer. This shot was taken on Rockwood, on one of the nice clear spots we rode. Man it's tiring slogging around in this kind of snow.

We went out to the old Playfair site, which is just a cool spot for something. I don't know what exactly. The city owns that site. Or is buying it. Or selling it?

I do know that the little bridge over the tracks (top right corner in the map below) could be a part of a good connection out to the east part of town, and that if the city retains ownership of this land a multi-use path could go here and connect the east part of down town into the Liberty Park area and eventually into the Iron Bridge and Ben Burr extension.

View Larger Map

What else do you see there? I see a race track. Maybe before the city or who ever rips that area up we should attempt some bike races out there. It's a hard track. Not hard, as in "hard packed," but hard as in, sandy with erosion and wash outs.

A week or so ago I wrote a post on how Brad Stark has put forth a resolution to get some money for Bike stuff in Spokane. I've since learned that this is not the best approach. Basically, it's a wedge in the 11th hour. It's hard not to rally and scream and just demand some money after years of nothing, but I think it's best to think longer term and assume the best of the new administration, which I have nothing but high hopes for, and figure out how to get what we need.

We are building the master bike plan. That is the essential piece right now; we have staff; we have forward movement on that. We should have a good draft hopefully by summer or fall at the lastest. With the MBP, we can then point to specifics for our money asks.

This doesn't mean that you should stay home on Monday night if you were planning on attending the council meeting. Any time cyclists show up and are counted at city events, it's a good thing and there may be some money in the budget regardless. If nothing else, the council meetings appear to be great entertainment lately.

BAB'ing

I spend today doing chores for the Bicycle Advisory Board (BAB).

First, I met with a guy named Eric, who is a cyclist who lives out by Albi stadium. If you've been paying attention a bit, you'll note that the "Pool Bond" passed. In the pool bond is $40 million to complete a sports complex out at Joe Albi stadium. In addition to the soccer and softball fields, which are sort of interesting, the new complex will include a BMX park. Very cool. So there's that, and I'm interested in that. My buddy Jon at Outthere Monthly made an interesting observation a while back: take a look at what the city did with the skate park under the freeway. It's not really a success. Who was involved with planning that project? Take a look at Hillyard's: it's a success. Why? As the city looks to build another kid-attraction with the BMX park, we should make sure we can answer the Why around the skate parks before we deploy the bulldozers.

But it wasn't BMX'ing that brought me out to Albi this morning at 8 AM, it was a potential for a multi-use path that could be built between Albi Stadium and Aubrey White Park Way. Wierd, right? There's a bunch of goo that is not interesting really to go into here: but it has to do with some land swapping between the city and a cemetery, some typical developer chicanery going on next to Riverside State Park, and some local neighborhood folks that want to see a bunch of urban forest conserved.

View Larger Map

The end-result is that we could see an opportunity for a really neat connection, which I've kind of guesstimated here based on the tromp through the snow that Eric took me on. This would be a great commuter as well as a great recreational connection. If you're on Aubrey White, the way into this neighborhood today is up Rifle Club Road and onto 291, which is a flipp'ing nasty road to ride. The next opportunity to get up into the NW neighborhood is way down at Downriver.

After Eric showed me around the area, I rode downtown and went to a BAB meeting where we attempted to chisel out some basic framework bike routes for the city. We've been building up to this meeting for a long time, in fact we had Louise McGrody from BAW fly in specifically for this meeting. In addition, we had a fellow from the Nat'l Park Service (where we scored some grant money for technical assistance in building our master bike plan) also join us. This was good.

We came up with a high level frame work and some pretty concrete ideas on prioritization. I think the next step will be to sharpen it up a bit and start shopping it around the neighborhoods for feedback.

We're getting somewhere man. This is good stuff.

Reminder: SE Blvd Bike Lane Celebration Ride is Tomorrow!

Rain or shine: we ride tomorrow. 10 AM at 4th and Sherman. More info here.

More Bike Blvd News

I learned a bit more about the Bike Boulevards proof-of-concept at the BAB meeting last night:

1. Bike Blvd criteria/best practice -- see the doc that the city planning intern put together: http://bikespokane.net/docs/Bicycle_boulevard_summary.pdf. This doc explains what they are. Has some good pictures and also explains how to figure out if a street is suitable for a bike blvd.
2. Basic design: street painting (giant letters that are made of dura stripe "BIKE BLVD"); unique street sign toppers (think of the brown toppers in Browns Addition); some signage along the blvd, though it's not clear what; and a tubular marker (the kind you can drive/plow over) in the center of each intersection.
3. Arterial crossing comes in many flavors, but the idea at the moment for the Post/Wellseley crossing is to have giant yellow signs alerting drivers of crossing and a semi-protected median (about 10' x 4') in the middle of Wellseley for doing two-part crossings. There were a lot of questions around this design. Hopefully we'll have a bit of time to work some of these design questions.
4. Cost is about $2k/block with about $30k as the minimum for arterial crossing.

As discussed in the last post, the city engineers are spec'ing out two "proofs of concept:" one on Post from Francis to Wellseley and another on Hatch St from 17th to 29th. And the timeline is still enforced; we're now down to one week. It's not clear to me if this is actually going to hit the street in a week or if it's going in front of the council for emergency funding in a week.

I do know that the idea is being pushed by Brad Stark. So that makes some sense given the overall campaign politics. I'm pretty sure I don't want to go down that road here, but I will say this: Mr Stark is appearing a bit vulnerable, and this appears to be a Hail Mary during the last few seconds of the game. We'll take it.

The general BAB consensus at the meeting last night was two fold:

1. We love the city pushing hard and aggressively to get some bike blvds laid down as a proof of concept. We believe bike blvds may be just the ticket for much of the upcoming Spokane bike master plan.
2. We cannot afford to rush the process. The proof of concept streets must be done right -- rushing through to meet a campaign deadline is not a wise move; let's make sure the design and street choices are right. There are a number of design/implementation questions that the BAB would like to spend a bit of time resolving. There is general agreement on Post as a route. Hatch does not seem like a good route for a proof of concept. This letter from BAB'er Bradley makes a great case for Arthur Street instead.

Lastly: there is an official opening for the SE Blvd road work and bike lane today. The official opening is where the Mayor comes and cuts a ribbon and such. There will also be donuts and coffee (see you there!). There were some press releases that went out and said it was at 10:30 today. That's wrong. It's at 2pm at 4th and Sherman at the Cancer Center parking lot there.

The SE Blvd bike ride celebration/opening is still happening this Sunday. No coffee and donuts provided by the city, but at least we'll be taking a ride.

If only every year could be an election year...

It's been a banner year for the city of Spokane with regard to cycling. SE Blvd got striped. The Bicycle Advisory Board finally got the City to give us some city time/heads to help develop a Master Bike Plan. BAW is now beginning to pay a lot more attention to local politics and is even talking about putting a PT head in Spokane to help us push bicycle-friendly policy through the local government.

I'd like to think this is the result of the work we've been doing on the newly-refreshed Bicycle Advisory Board over the last year. The entire board has been updated and there's a bunch of passionate and hard-working folks doing a lot of extra-curricular work to make things happen. No doubt that has had something to do with these changes.

But there's also a subtle shift going on in Spokane. Spokane is growing up as a city. It's finally beginning to see itself as a city that is cool by its own rights. That it's not simply, the "second biggest city in Washington," or the "biggest city between Seattle and Chicago." Folks seem to be realizing that being a big city is not that great and that is what's so attractive about Spokane. We're seeing a huge increase in folks from bigger cities moving to Spokane for the quality of life and because it's not a big city and as cheesy as it sounds, we really are near nature. Now we just need to work on the "near perfect" part. I think most of these newcomers and the folks that have grown up here are seeing a very real potential to shape Spokane into a great city. Dare I say "world class?"

I think that's the reason we're seeing seeing all of this stuff happen in an election year. There's a general awakening and realization that quality of life matters a lot. That investing in stuff like public pools, parks, bike and pedestrian facilities actually may pay off economically by attracting smart people and companies to relocate here.

Oh yeah. And we're likely to see $4+/gallon by this time next year. It's no secret. Smart folks are looking ahead to a time when driving a mile to the store is even more of a silly financial decision than it is now. Walking and riding a bike will begin to make more and more sense financially in the years that come, regardless of what the big pols would like us to think.

Anyway.

The latest BIG NEWS: it looks like the city is going to push through bike blvd "proofs of concept" BEFORE the election. That's two weeks away by the way. We're talking about getting the signs and stripes laid down in the next two weeks. Yow.

The word on the street is that North Post from Francis to Garland will become a Bike Blvd and Hatch on the South Hill from 17th to 29th. I think Post is a great candidate. This will nearly make a continuous route from downtown that is pretty ridable for most. The Hatch decision -- I could think of a couple other candidates if you wanted to test effectiveness that would be much better (especially E-W route across 33rd-34th: from High Drive, passing by Comstock, Sac, Library, All Saints, and into SE) -- but that's just my opinion.

The bottom line: it would be so flippin cool if we got some Bike Blvds out of the election year. The Post route will be used heavily by many folks for sure. Let's hope the design is solid; it doesn't sound like there will be much in the way of input solicitation.

Mark Your Calendar - BAB Ride

Please join the Bicycle Advisory Board to celebrate SE Boulevard Bike Lane opening!

When: Sunday, October 21 at 10:00 AM

Where: Start at Fourth and Sherman; Stop at 30th and SE Boulevard/Great Harvest Bread Company

Why: To Celebrate the completion of the SE Boulevard bike lanes

Join Spokane's Bicycle Advisory Board and cyclists from around the region for a bike ride to celebrate the opening of the SE Boulevard bike lanes. Riders will depart from 4th and Sherman at 10:15 AM to ride the new and previously existing portions of the bike lane to 30th and SE Boulevard. We will then meet at Great Harvest Bread Company for a no-host celebration of camaraderie, coffee, hot chocolate and fresh baked goods. This just completed project is the first of what the BAB plans to be a cohesive network of bicycle lanes, routes, paths and boulevards that will connect neighborhoods to the city's core, providing safer and more enjoyable alternatives to driving in and around Spokane.

Transformation

I love meeting commuters for the BAB commuter project.

I just got this email from a guy who I'll be following soon:

I am basically a new bicycle commuter. When the gas prices went up in the early summer, my wife an I decided that my Dodge 4x4 should be replaced with a bicycle. I was sceptical at first, but I am saving over $400 a month and I feel great every day I ride, not to mention that I have lost at least 15 lbs. I haven't had a bicycle since I was 15, I am now 34, but as they say, you never forget.

He goes on to explain his route, etc.

These are my favorite kinds of stories: "I sold my car and started biking..." I guess I like it so much because it's very similar to the transformation I've gone through in the last few years. I've also watched my wife become a daily cyclist and my friend Ben too. A new friend, Jason, has also is taking up every-day cycling over the last few months.

It's a transformation I'll never tire of watching and one that I hope to see many more times.

Up and Coming Work

(clicking the picture will open a PDF of this image)

I've been wanting this mashup map for a while. It shows the bike facilities that are specified in our current comp plan, overlaid with upcoming street bond projects. Thanks to Ken and Katherine who are staffers for the City of Spokane for putting this together.

There's a lot of goo here. I'll go with the bullet list approach:

• The current comp plan shows a map of shared use lanes (no lines, just signs) and bike lanes (lines on the street).
• The city and the Bicycle Advisory Board are just now beginning the process of creating a Master Bike Plan (MBP). I've had a few entries that describe it. The MBP is likely about a year or 18 months away from completion. Which means, we're a couple years out from real, on the street implementation. So, one challenge is to continue to push for bicycle facilities as we develop the new plan and make sure that the two parallel efforts are congruent.
• The "Street Bond Project" implementation is a disappointment. I've gone on about that in another post. The main take away is that we're spending millions of dollars on re-surfacing many roads in Spokane, roads that will not be resurfaced for another few decades, and many of these roads are specified (in the comp plan) as roads that should have bike facilities. However, these funds were locked down by a street citizen advisory committee in such a way to only benefit automobiles: no "amenities" (regardless of what is specified in the comp plan)can be improved or created with these bond monies.

So then why the mash up? The reality is, there are many citizens, city employees, and elected officials that are wise enough to see beyond the short-term costs of providing an infrastructure that encourages non-single-occupancy auto transportation. Smart communities all over the world have recognized or are recognizing that putting money into alternative transportation pays off in the long term. In a nutshell: if it is the will of the citizens, we can get the bike facilities on some of these upcoming projects.

We've been successful with getting some funds to stripe the SE Blvd Project. Now the city engineers are considering signing and "re-centering" a section of North Wall that is going to be resurfaced next year. In addition, the city council is interested in piloting the Bike Blvd idea in the next year or so. Don't know what a Bike Blvd is?



Check out this youtube video and start dreaming of how a side street in your neighborhood would look all decked out.

Progress.

So, as you look at that map, take a look at your neighborhood and look at the upcoming work. If it's more than a year out AND there are bike facilities spec'd on the comp plan for the work area AND you think bike facilities would be a good idea there, then please contact me or come to a BAB meeting and get involved.

What's Your Route?

One of the projects I do for the Bicycle Advisory Board is collecting commuter routes. I've been doing this for about 8 months. Clicking on the map there will take you to my site that shows all the routes I've followed. You can then zoom in/out on an interactive map. (If you're running a Mac, you must be using Firefox to make the map control work -- Also, it may be a bit slow and flakey, the application is running off an old server in my basement).

I really like this project. The way it works is that I follow bike commuters (on my bike) and track their route with a GPS. I then load the route into the map.

The main reason I like the project is because I meet a lot of cool folks. In general, people that commute by bike are my favorite kind of cyclists. I like seeing the different bikes they ride and how they kit up for their rides. I also like observing how different folks ride in traffic. Some folks take the absolute direct route regardless of traffic, while others avoid busy streets at all costs.

My hope in gathering the data is to see what kind of patterns emerge. This is one small bit of data to help in building the Master Bike Plan for Spokane. I think I still need about 50 or so more routes before we see stuff. But I am surprised to find that at the moment, we're literally all over the map. Going into this, I figured most commuting cyclists would ride and choose routes as I do.

Instead, I'm finding that each commuter is different. I guess that's not too surprising. Humans are like that.

However, the folks that have been commuting for a long time and who ride most of the year do share similarities in how they ride, how they choose their routes, their speed/fitness, and how they interact with traffic. I guess I find that encouraging.

Anyway, I need more data. If you commute in the city of Spokane and want to contribute please go here.

Oh -- and I realize that you could send me the data derived from Google Maps or some other tool, but the fun is in riding/meeting and the data is much more reliable if I can track it.